12 gauge Tree Trimmer.

[Adam Helmer]

It never occurred to me to use it in that way before. I should give it a try

entina,

Welcome to the Campfire; I see this is only your 4th post. Living in a rural area, I was told by the tree guy he had to bring his high lifter, etc., and a few small limbs cost "about $150.00." No, thanks.

A box of trap loads later, NO MORE LIMB Problems.

Welcome.

Adam

[GooseGestapo]

I’ve used several different cartridges to prune trees through the years.
Best I’ve found is/was my Winchester M94 “Legacy” in .45Colt.
I use the Lee .452” 255gr RFN over 8.2gr of Universal. It’s profoundly accurate and busts limb’s taking 1/2” swaths out.

[gunther]

When I was a kid, dad and I walked off Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner by taking a walk up the hollow behind the house. Mostly we found and harvested hornet's nests in the top of trees.
A 12 gauge is a good thing when you want to make astronauts out of tent caterpillars.
For serious limbing work nothing beats a 50-70. At 20 yards a moderate load took the back out of the target 6 inch poplar.
Worked a lime kiln job with a couple of contractors who were Civil War buffs. We walked past the burner end of the kiln and they had a fit. Seems the Winchester kiln gun (think vintage) was very similar to a Williams gun. The supervisor was not amused at the "Can we please fire it? Just once?" request.

[pworley1]

For many years I would "cut" our Christmas tree with a 12 ga. We had a large amount of cedar trees on our property that we mostly used for fence posts. The post size trees were not nearly as pretty for Christmas trees as the top 6 0r 7 of the 20 foot tall and taller trees were. I would shoot them a few inches below where they needed to be cut so I could make a clean cut. The trees would continue to grow and still make barn post or split post for the fence.

[Texas by God]

While walking this morning, I came across a broken but still attached hanging limb on our ATV trail. Cab height and in the way….
One shot of 7-1/2 1-1/8 oz 12 gauge dropped it easily.


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[WRideout]

I had heard somewhere that is how mistletoe is harvested!

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I have done that.
Wayne

[WRideout]

When I lived in Knoxville, TN a neighbor told me about his experience growing up in Mississippi. He said there had been a bad ice storm and tree limbs hung over the power lines, causing an outage. He walked the power lines with his 22 rifle, and shot down the offending branches.

Wayne

[missionary5155]

First year we had our 1st 43 Spanish Roller took it to a pastor friend's home near Decatur, Ill-nois. We went out to a relative's farm to do some shooting. There was a large cotton wood tree along a fence row that extended put into the crop area far enough it was a tractor issue.
Well our solution was 400 grain 40-1 slugs about a foot from the trunk. Took 15+ rounds but those BP loads did the trick. Limb area where shot was about 8".
Happily we did not have to drag it away.

[alfadan]

I've taken down small cedars with a 12g. Not the most efficient method, but fun.
Oh and had an old bird feeder with a paper wasp nest in it. I told em to come out peaceable but they wouldn't do it!

[beagle]

Grandson got a new drone for Christmas a couple years ago. About his second flight, it landed/crashed on a walnut limb about 40 feet up. Went to the house and grabbed the .357 Marlin and a box of .38s. Boy was crying, "grandpa, don't shoot my drone". About a dozen well place shots and the limb sagged easily to about 6 feet off the ground. Reached up and picked the drone off the limb. Faith restored in grandpa./beagle

[JoeJames]

I thought I was the only country feller who did that - high brass 6's in my 12 gauge 870 work just fine. But during the last ice storm I talked to a feller with the power company about it. He said most of them had 12 gauge pumps in their trucks and used them often.

[Cap'n Morgan]

Thank You! I am sorry I digressed to discussion of a rifled firearm for pruning and pest control on a shotgun/tree trimming thread!

Longbow

Don't feel sorry, LB, I'll back you up:

While I was still a teen, a friend's father complained of a branch on a large chestnut tree, interfering with the flag on their flagpole.
Always willing to help, I fired a couple of 3006 - converted from FMJ to hollow points - through the base of the offending branch.
Nothing happened, and we turned to walk away, when BAMM!! The branch came crashing down!

Years later, a logger told me that they always treated chestnut trees with outmost respect, as branches and trunks would snap without
warning when cutting them down.

[dogrunner]

Darn FEW chestnuts of american origin left..........thanks to an imported asiatic infection that in effect wiped out that species in the first half of the 20th century. Kind of a super covid epidemic for forests! What a shame we can't respond in kind.